Sunday, October 16, 2016

I have a cake book that has several recipes for this type of cake. Mudcake is a very dense but moist cake. These cakes have a low amount of flour vs a high amount of liquid, which puts them between a standard cake and a flourless cake. Due to the high liquid, the cakes take an hour or more to bake.

The method for this particular type of cake is quite different from the average. Ingredients are heated together in a saucepan and cooled, then mixed with eggs and flour. For the ganache, white chocolate is actually baked in the oven.

The heavenly triple caramel flavor stems from several ingredients, but the butterscotch schnapps plays a key role in the taste of the cake, so it is a must to include.

Since the ganache has to cool, it should be made first. Break up white chocolate bars and place in a shallow baking dish. Then preheat the oven to 320 degrees. Once preheated place baking dish in oven and cook for 10 minutes. Stir and then let cook for another 10 minutes and remove. Place a saucepan over medium heat and fill with cream. Let come to a simmer and add melted white chocolate, whisking until smooth.

Place a sieve over a medium bowl and pour chocolate mixture into sieve. Use the back of a spoon to help the chocolate strain through. After the ganache has been strained, cover and place in refrigerator to cool.

As this is cooling, prepare an 8 inch cake or springform pan by greasing the interior and lining the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Turn oven temperature up to 400 degrees.

Pull out another baking dish and fill it with the sweetened condensed milk. Cover the dish with foil, in the manner as a pie crust. The foil should sink about 1/4 inch down on the inside and the top edges should have foil that has been crimped up to make the edge stronger. Then place dish in a larger baking pan and fill the larger pan with boiling water. The boiling water should reach halfway up the outside of the smaller pan. Place in oven and let bake for 1 hour.

Uncover and then stir. Check water level and, if needed, add more boiling water to outer pan, making sure it reaches the halfway point on the outside of the interior pan. Cover again and let bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove pan and whisk caramel until smooth. Cover and let cool to room temperature.

Once the caramel has cooled, take out a medium size saucepan. Fill with the butter, brown sugar and salt and place over low heat. As the butter melts, whisk with the brown sugar. After the butter has melted, add the cooled caramel and the butterscotch schnapps. Remove from heat and mix sauce until all ingredients have been evenly distributed.

Pour sauce into a medium size bowl and let cool for about 20 minutes. Turn oven back down to 320 degrees. As the caramel continues to cool, sift together the all purpose flour and self rising flour. Fold the sifted ingredients into the cooled caramel/butter mixture. Stir in salt. Lastly, whisk the two eggs in a small bowl and then stir them into the cake batter.

Remove ganache from refrigerator and let cake cool. Then you are ready to ice the cake. Whisk the ganache. It should be pourable, if not, heat up in the microwave to reach desired consistency. Place a sheet of wax paper under the cake and then pour the ganache onto the center top of the cake. The ganache should cover the top and drip down to cover all sides.